Forbidden Wings

Surprise

At age 8, Tarani was left alone in the big house with the red door, with a box she was told not to open until May 26 of that year. On May 26th, Tarani acted like it was Christmas and opened the box that held a little sleeping girl. Confused Tarani touched the girl’s freckled face, but nothing. Tarani climbed into the box to wake the little girl, but nothing worked. Finally, Tarani decided to take the child out of the box put her in the extra bed upstairs and go to sleep, the girl was breathing so sometime she would wake up.

The next morning Tarani awoke to bright eyes staring into her and tiny fingers playing with her long hair. Startled, little Tarani screamed and cried out for the parents that had left her alone. This of course scared the small girl who began crying and reaching for Tarani. At first she just stared at this small child wondering what the meaning of this was. Tarani lifted the tiny human into her arms and felt warmth spread throughout her as the girl stopped crying. This was when Tarani first realized that when Altani was happy so were the people around her and when she was not she had the power to put anyone within a 100 mile radius in a bad mood.

When Tarani picked the child up she heard the crinkling of paper. Once the girl was calm enough to put down Tarani searched the pockets of the simple teal t-shirt dress the girl was wearing. In the left pocket was a note addressed to Tarani. She opened it up and scanned over it quickly reading;

“Our sweet Tarani,

We cannot express the devastation it brings us to leave you here and your sister as well. We know you must have so many questions and we are sorry that we are not there to answer them. Just know you are protected always and never give in completely to the power you hold.

By now we imagine that Atlani is awake. Your sister is to be protected by any means necessary. Someday you will understand more, but for now just know she is the key to an everlasting ending. Please know we love you very much and we believe that you will survive and carry on our work.”

Tarani must have read over the letter 1,000 times, folding and unfolding the paper, hoping somehow this was all a mistake or a weird test. Tarani knew she had power, she knew she had to be kept away from the bad people, but after her parents leaving she never thought she would make it. Now she had a sister, a really little sister that she was going to have to protect. Tarani looked over at Atlani and began to cry. Curious Atlani crawled into Tarani’s lap and pushed their foreheads together. Tarani felt a warm jolt flow through her immediately relieving the pain in her heart. Atlani leaned back and smiled, giggling as her eyes flickered looking like endless gold pools.

From then on Tarani took care of Atlani and years later nothing had changed. The little girl with amber eyes and brown spots across her nose was still testing the boundaries and shocking the hell out of her each day.

Tarani came back to the present as Atla set a plate in front of her but after a few moment of silence and stillness Atla moved to her sister reaching for her to feel what her turmoil Tarani’s head was working through. Per usual Atla was met by the steel doors that guarded Tarani’s mind. Atla consoled what she felt she could and went back to stewing about Tarani’s inability to enjoy what they had. A wave of the hand had the kitchen clean and tidy which is where she left Tarani to finish her adulting. Trekking up the stairs she felt a familiar shadow lick at her feet.

Atla felt as though this was her gift. She felt with such intensity that sometimes it overtook her. Her feelings were what controlled her ability to stay ordinary. Her emotions were often tampered with by shadows, not the type of shadows that people cast on the sidewalk, but real darkness that laps at the light. Shadows that make a person believe things actually go bump in the night. This particular piece of darkness, held steady to her, they didn’t speak, but didn’t need to, they were able to adequately communicate. Somehow Atlani knew that these shadows, these beings were reaching out to her for a very specific reason, for what though she did not know. All she could do is rejoice in the fact that they reached out at all.

If only she could talk to her sister, if only she could ask the questions she so longed to ask. But she couldn’t because at every turn Tarani shut her down and shut her down hard. Atla was reassured that someday she would be able to understand and that is when Tarani would clue her in. But damnit Atla wanted to know now! As she laid to sleep that night she dreamed again of what her parents were like, knowing that when she woke up tomorrow she would be searching for answers in the Forbidden Book again.